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Death Guard
The Death Guard are a Loyalist First Founding Space Marine Legion whose name is a byword for resilience and unshakeable courage, whose warriors serve to protect humanity against itself and its own corruption on more than a hundred worlds, and at whose hands scores of xenos races have met their destruction. The Death Guard have continuously fought tirelessly against this most vile of threats: inhuman, unrecognisable and soulless monsters of the dark - the very stuff of nightmares. Legion History The Emperor of Mankind sought to unite all of humanity under one banner following the Long Night of the Age of Strife, and end inter-human conflict. Once united, the Emperor intended to begin the next stage of His great plan to ensure human domination of the Milky Way Galaxy, which He judged to be necessary if humanity was to survive the never-ceasing threats to its existence embodied by Chaos, myriad xenos races and its own fragile human nature. In time, when the Emperor's eye first began to fall beyond Terra, He began to raise new armies to fight His Great Crusade. He drew these new troops in part from the forces that had already unified Terra during the Unification Wars of the late 30th Millennium. To carry out the Great Crusade and reunite all the scattered colony worlds of Mankind beneath the single banner of the Imperium of Man, the Emperor created the genetically-enhanced superhuman warriors known as the Space Marine Legions. These forces would serve as the speartip of His Great Crusade that began in 798.M30, bringing the light of Imperial Truth and enforcing Imperial Compliance with the new regime on every human world encountered. The Warlords of Dusk The origins of the Dusk Raiders can be found during the Unification Wars. The base human stock for the majority of the first Space Marine Legions to be raised came from Terra, and in the case of the XIV Legion the main bulk of the gene-recruits used were drawn from the ancient and warlike clans of Old Albia, situated in southeastern Europe, where what once had been the ancient nation-state of Albania. Indeed such was the suitability of there peoples for induction into the ranks of the Space Marines that recruits were drawn also to fill the ranks of the First Founding VIII and X Legions, the Night Lords and the Iron Hands, respectively, although to a lesser degree than the XIV Legion which was by blood and culture shaped by the the warlords and Techno-barbarian of Albia as well as the hand of the Emperor. The recruitment of the sons of Albia served a twofold purpose; firstly, and most importantly, it drew off the cream of whole generations of strength from a Terran realm, now friend and ally to the Imperium but never fully trusted. For Old Albia, towering amid the northern Atlan wilderness, had once been a true rival of the Emperor for control of the destiny of Mankind. By recruiting their brightest and best into the Legiones Astartes and the other growing Imperial organisations marked for war amid the stars, the Emperor ensured they could never threaten the Unification from within. Secondly, it subsumed into the Emperor's forces all the martial traditions and bloodlines that had for centuries held much of Terra under their cruel grasp and had eventually overcome the Panpacific Empire under the rule of its Unspeakable King, Narthan Dume. Such a breed of relentless warlords and soldier-scientists was an invaluable resource that the Emperor was loathe to waste. By the time the Unification Wars had begun, the warlord clans of Old Albia had thrown off the tyranny of the last descendants of the Unspeakable King, and did not readily bend their knee to the Emperor, for they refused to have another master in Dume's place. Instead the Albians met the Emperor's regiments of Thunder Warriors with their own battalions of steam-belching proto-Dreadnoughts and heavily armoured Ironside soldiers. In battle after battle, the forces of the Unification were held in check, although at a shattering cost for the Albians, who would not give in despite the Imperial onslaught. Impressed with the Albians' martial temper and indomitable courage, the Emperor called for a ceasefire and sought victory over the warlord clans through peaceful negotiations, understanding that to crush them by force alone would entail a grinding war of attrition that would only serve to decimate His own forces and gain Him naught but a handful of ashes as a prize of war. The Emperor pursued peace despite the protestations of His human counsellors and generals. Going before them, it is said, unarmed and clothed in white and crimson, the Emperor spoke to the warlords' parliament and laid before them His vision of a future Mankind reunited and ascendant, of tyrants toppled and nightmares slain. He offered them glory amongst the stars and most importantly, redemption for many hundreds of years of kin-slaying and bloodshed. To the shock of many, the warlords of Old Albia accepted the Emperor's vision. In doing so, the Albian clans became among the Unification's most zealous supporters, although still untrusted by many, lending their warriors and secrets long kept up for the Emperor's eyes alone. Most importantly for the future of humanity, the Albians sacrificed their sons to become the first Space Marines. The XIV Legion quickly developed in the use of tactics and methods of warfare that their Ironside forebears would have found utterly familiar, matched with a stoic temperament and gene-crafted aptitude which few doubted had been the Emperor's design all along. Operating in the role of heavy infantry, the Astartes of the XIV Legion were experts at survival and endurance, and quickly gained a reputation among the other newly-forged Legions as relentless and disciplined fighters. In defence they were stubborn and indefatigable, able to stand unwaveringly against the heaviest fire and hold their position against all comers to the last living body and Bolter shell if needed. In attack they systematically destroyed a given target, crashing upon an enemy in wave after wave of armoured bodies, excelling in close range fire-fights and bloody attrition. Their grey and unadorned Power Armour began to carry the symbols of rank and decoration, now modified that once formed the armorial imagery of the Ironsides of Old Albia, and most tellingly their right vambraces, gauntlets and shoulder plates were painted the deep crimson of drying blood, now symbolising the red right hand of the Emperor's justice where once it had proclaimed the murderous reach of the Panpacific Empire's Unspeakable King. As the XIV Legion fought in the last days of Terran Unification and the first battles of the Great Crusade off-world, they were given the epithet of Dusk Raiders by those they fought and took it for their own. This name was a consequence of their use of the ancient Albian tactic of conducting major ground attacks at fall of night when the shift of light confused an enemy's watch, and gathering darkness would shadow an advance across open ground. Such was the reputation the XIV Legion garnered, in fact, that foes given an ultimatum of attack by the Dusk Raiders would often waver in their resolve, their soldiers panicking and deserting their bastions or throwing down their arms and fleeing at the coming of darkness rather than face the Astartes. As relentless as they were in attack, the Dusk Raiders were known to be honourable opponents as well, who would hold to bargains struck for early surrender and honour symbols of truce. When such terms lapsed, however, and the die was cast for destruction, it was just as widely known that nothing would stay the Dusk Raiders' hand. Such honourable terms only extended to human foes worthy to be brought into the fold of Imperial Compliance, however; to the degenerate, the mutant and the alien, no such mercy was given. So the Dusk Raiders continued this course over the next eight standard decades as they fought on unwavering in the service of the Great Crusade. Still fatherless during this time as other Space Marine Legions gained their long-lost Primarchs until only a handful remained to be discovered, this "orphan" status further bred a self-reliance and a quiet, stubborn pride in the Dusk Raiders' self-forged character, and the martial triumphs of the XIV Legion were many and enviable. Their reunification with their Primarch, when it finally came, was a joyous event that many had long hoped for. Recognising the sacrifice of his sons, Mortarion's influence fell upon the legion like a shadow, and the Dusk Raiders were soon broken down and remade in the Pale King's image, thus, the XIV Legion became the resolute and unforgiving Death Guard. The Pale King Of all the worlds upon which the Primarchs were scattered, few were as terrible or forlorn a place as damned Barbarus. What consistent information can be gleaned the Death Guard Primarch's story have a single source - the so-called Stygian Scrolls of Lackland Thorn, a historian attached to the Crusade Fleet that breached the dark nebular that surrounded Barbarus. Though a polymath of great intellect, his vision was often a morbid one, and his works unsettled as much as they illuminated. On Barbarus, he recorded the story of Mortarion for posterity, and his resulted works, the Stygian Scrolls, became part of the Death Guard's culture; a copy of which is presented to each Space Marine of the Legion upon their formal investiture into its ranks. When the twenty Primarchs of the Space Marine Legions were scattered across the galaxy in a mysterious accident, the Stygian Scrolls tell of one that came to rest upon the planet Barbarus. This isolated world, located in the southern border of the Segmentum Tempestus, was a world divided. The population was split into two groups: noble beings; a technologically advanced humanoid race with fantastic powers that lived high in the mountains, and the settlers; regular baseline humans who had been trapped on the planet millennia earlier, and were forced to eke out a pitiful existence in the poisonous valleys of the planet. Over time, they had adapted to the poisonous fog that enveloped the mountains, but had devolved into a distinct-branch of humanity with only a medieval level of technology. The noble people of the mountains were immune to this poisonous atmosphere, living high up in the mountains in massive fortresses, safe from the pitiful creatures that lurked below. Mortarion's gestation capsule fell upon the planet Barbarus and came to rest on a bleak more, strewn with a heap of decomposing corpses left in the wake of a recent battle. Here, some low-land dwellers looking for scraps, found the mewling infant, screaming and wailing where a normal child would have already suffocated and died long before. Interested in the strange, pale creature, the low-landers took the infant with them. They named him Mortarion - 'child of death' - as he had been found amongst the dead in a realm of death. The newfound infant was brought to one of the larger scrap towns - large ramshackle towns made of salvaged scrap and metal - where thousands of souls were trapped in a nightmarish world. They eked out a peasant's existence by day beneath a dim sun which never burned completely through the unblinking gloam of their planet's putrid atmosphere, unable to see the see the multitude of stars that shone brightly above their world's orbit. Only the strongest managed to endure this bleak existence. It was here that the young Primarch rapidly grew to adolescence, and then just as quickly, to full adulthood. The people of Barbarus barely tolerated the pale, gaunt youth, but reluctantly let him live amongst them, as he had a strong back and possessed strength that was amazingly robust, which made him ideal for harvesting their meagre crops. Mortarion wielded a massive harvesting scythe when performing his farming duties. Though he worked many long hours in the fields, harvesting ten times the crops of any one person, his efforts were underappreciated and unremarked upon. This did not bother Mortarion, who found the tedious labour a welcome escape from the boredom of the tedium of his existence on forlorn Barbarus. And so, this went one for a number of years, until one day, a Lord and his personal guard happened upon the Primarch's dilapidated town. When the strangers approached the frightened townsfolk all of them fled and hid themselves in the nearby woods. Only Mortarion remained in the field in which they were working. He stood tall and proud, massive scythe in hand. The Lord was intrigued by the pale, gaunt, but obviously well-muscled young man and sent out his best warrior to test him. Mortarion easily bested the warrior. Impressed, the Lord invited the young man to join him at his palace in the mountains. Though cautious, Mortarion eagerly followed the Lord and his entourage high into the peaks of their world's mountains. Testing the limits of the young man's endurance, the Lord determined precisely how high into the purified, thin atmosphere he could endure. Mortarion was then brought to the nearest stony keep. Here, the young Primarch was granted refuge from the bleak existence of the poisonous valleys below and offered to be educated in the various sciences and other mysteries of the wider universe. He readily found himself at home amongst the noble high-landers. He no longer had to live amongst cowards, thieves and scraphunters, and he found that he also had some tolerance towards the purified atmosphere due to his superhuman, resilient body. He could not climb to the highest castles where was too pure and thin for even his mighty lungs, but most others were reachable. Moration's body had adopted to the poisonous environment located in the dismal valleys far below, and found it difficult to breathe without the use of a breathing apparatus that contained some of the deadly, poisonous mist of his first home. The Lord and Mortarion quickly became fast friends and the Lord taught him all he knew of warfare and leadership, and of how the peasants in the valley needed to be controlled and constantly thinned out otherwise they would overpopulate and their ecosystem would collapse. Also, since they always had ample bodies to experiment with, the nobles become master flesh-crafters, perfecting the arts of gene-forging over several millennia, which enabled them to resurrect themselves in body time and time again, as they continuously attempted to reach a true personification of a single ideal archetype. Mortarion very much agreed with Lord on the principles of humans needing guidance and protection from themselves and also picked up the art of flesh-crafting. The Coming of the Emperor Eventually, the Emperor of Mankind detected the presence of one of his lost sons, and so, he ordered his Expeditionary Fleet to make for the Segmentum Tempestus. Here, they found the bleak and fog-shrouded world of Barbarus. The Emperor and an entourage of Legio Custodes and a large Imperial delegation were transported to the largest castle located on the planet's highest peak. Here, the Emperor was greeted by the noble Lord of Barbarus and his planet's representatives. When the Emperor finally saw His lost son, standing amongst the Lord's entourage, he made his way towards him. He met with Mortarion without the dissembling that had been needed with those Primarchs that He had found of more savage timbre. Mortarion immediately recognised the Emperor as his true father, and immediately swore fealty to the Master of Mankind. Mortarion recognised in the Emperor, a kindred spirit. His father possessed a keen, powerful intelligence and regal bearing - a perfect noble leader. He too, believed that humanity was weak and needed to be shepherded into a new age of enlightenment and prosperity. But this could only be done by separating the wheat from the chaff - those who accepted the Imperial Truth and those who did not. In short order, the Emperor immediately granted Mortarion command of the Dusk Raiders, the XIV Legion of the Legiones Astartes. A Solemn Reunion The Primarch needed little in the aid of assimilation of knowledge of the wider galaxy, the Great Crusade and the many technological wonders of the newborn Imperium of Mankind. A skilled warlord in his own right, Mortarion began to imprint his own image upon his Legion. Gathering the Terran-born warriors that possessed his genetic lineage before in a great assemblage, the grim and spectral figure, robed and bearing the great black scythe that had been gifted to him by the Emperor Himself, it seemed to the Terran-born Dusk Raiders that an ancient, graven image of the Grim Reaper had come before them as their new master. In a hushed whisper, the Primarch claimed ownership over the XIV Legion. Thus, by this simple decree the Dusk Raiders were no more, and the records and annals from that day forward would carry this new name as one to strike fear into the hearts of Mankind's enemies. The Libram Primaris, or Book of Primarchs, tells how Mortarion brought the relentlessness, remorselessness and resilience to the Legion built of his own genetic material. The resulting prowess of the Death Guard was recognised from the moment Mortarion took command, but the young Primarch never settled in Imperial society outside of battle. Though grim, Mortarion was driven, fixated on reckoning with those who would dare oppress the worlds where mankind resided. The Great Crusade Mortarion felt at home in the crusade. This was his purpose all along conquering human colonies, purging xenos and killing monsters. He became close with Horus as Horus' primary tool in harsh conditions and against touch opponents. And he took Jaghatai Khan in as a protege guiding him in leadership. The XIV Legion were primarily composed of Terran-born Legionaries before their reunification with their Primarch. But as the Great Crusade progressed, and the Death Guard brought several worlds into Imperial Compliance, inevitably, they sustained heavy casualties, as the Death Guard preferred to fight on toughest, most hazardous environments. Known as 'Zone Mortalis' operations, this took an extensive toll on the Death Guards numbers. When Legionaries fell, Mortarion was forced to send for additional Legionaries from Barbarus. Though he would have liked to fill his Legion with the noble-born Barbarans - for indeed they made for consummate leaders and excellent officers - there were far too few in number to make up the bulk of the XIV Legion. Therefore, Though initially hesitant to do so, Mortarion was eventually forced to recruit the scurvy-looking humans that resided in the toxic valleys of his homeworld. As time went on the humans of Barbarus began to fill up more and more of the army until they were more than half. This divide in the Legion made for strenuous times. The humans of Barbarus were unable to fully let go of their old habits of thieving, backstabbing and infighting, and the officers had a hard time controlling the army. Mortarion saw that they never would rise to be more than they were, so he made sure they never rose in grades beyond simple soldiers. In battle they were drugged in order to ensure they followed command, which gave them an empty look in their eyes. This also changed the Death Guards strategy. The officers started to take a step back and let the soldiers act as front line, almost as if they were expendable. This of course increased the tension. The Dornian Heresy As the heresy became known the Death Guard was at the other end of the galaxy having just fought off an ambush from an Eldar raiding company. The Eldars had managed to wreck their warp engines and kill their navigators. Fearing his fathers life Mortarion was crushed. In his grief he was approached by his First Captain Calas Typhon, Lord of Barbarus. Finally feeling the courage to come clean knowing how Mortarion felt about psykers he offered his until then hidden psychic abilities. He offered to help guide the fleet through the warp. Seing a light in the dark Mortarion rushed to get the engines working and attempted to make a calculated jump through the warp, steering as he went guided by Typhon. But travelling through the Warp without navigators and barely working engines is very dangerous. This was of course part of Dorn's plan all along - lure Mortarion and his forces through the Warp where the corruption of Nurgle could spread through the Barbarus-born portions of the legion, and let them revolt and overtake the ships. But Dorn did not know of Mortarion's true strength as commander of his reanimated sons. In the Death Guard's darkest hour, while trapped deep within the tumultuous eddies of the Immaterium, which saw the Pale King fighting the horrors of Nurgle, Mortarion used what had been, until now, a childish toy and animated every Legionary as he fell and used these reanimated warriors against the revolting Traitors, both to protect himself, his fellow officers and also because they were untouchable to the diseases spreading from the Traitors. His officers of Barbarus saw the Primarch's desperate action and followed suit. His officers of Terran descent were horrified at first - towards both their rebellious kin, but also the reanimated warriors that now marched in orderly rows in front of them. Again Typhon was the savior as he inspired them and helped them adapted and made them see it as a necessary tool to control the diseased rebel formation. Despite the Warmaster's diabolical plan to corrupt the entirety of the XIV Legion, miraculously, only one ship fell to the corrupting influence of Nurgle - the frigate Eisenstein. This was due to their commander, Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro, who fell ill following an infection he had acquired after receiving a new cybernetic leg. This made the ill Death Guard officer susceptible to the corrupting influence of the Plague God. The Battle-Captain locked himself in his own quarters, so as not to reveal his condition, but when the revolt came, he burst out of his private chamber, now wholly transformed into a Chaos Lord of Nurgle. He attacked the ranks of his former fellow officers from their vulnerable flank, to ensure victory. When the Death Guard finally exited the warp, their Legion had been transformed. Although all the Legion's officers were fully alive, the rank and file Legionaries had become undead, reanimated warriors - no longer living, but not alive either. Their power armor was modified by the Legion's Techmarines to keep their bodies from decomposing. To all others, this was done to separate them from the drugged Barbarus Legionaries of old. The Death Guard intended to keep their dark fate concealed from those outside their legion - a secret they would take their graves. Unfortunately, their troubles in the Warp had delayed them from taking part in the Heresy's epic final campaign during the Battle of Terra. All they could do was take up pursuit of the Traitor Legions and help drive them into the hellish realm of the Eye of Terror. On Terra Mortarion met up with his brother Magnus. Although he had spoken out against Magnus, Magnus greeted him with open arms. Magnus knew as the powerful psyker he was which powers Mortarion had used to save his legion and as psyker to psyker there were no longer any differences between them. And there at the side of their fallen father the brothers made peace. Legion Homeworld Barbarus is a Feral World which orbits near its dim yellow sun in the Segmentum Tempestus, which creates a thick, miasmic atmosphere of toxic chemicals. The most virulent of these gases rise through Barbarus' perpetual clouds towards the heat of its star, making the world beneath a dismal place of night, unbroken by starlight and with short, shadowy days. An atmosphere breathable by humans exists only in the highest elevations, while the lower areas of elevation such as flat moors and the valley basins of the jagged, stony mountains which spine the world, are covered in a thick, deadly and cloying mist. Highly intelligent human nobles that reside in the mighty citadels in the mountain fastness are immune to the toxic soup of the planet's atmosphere. When humans first settled Barbarus, the horrific environmental conditions from which they had to eke out survival quickly reduced them to a pre-feudal state. Legion Culture & Beliefs The beliefs of the Death Guard echoes those of their Primarch. At the heart of their core beliefs is the unshakeable determination that Mankind is weak and susceptible to corruption. Therefore men needs guidance and leadership but also a harsh hand when needed like a shepherd with his flock. The battle for the future of Mankind is one that can only be achieved through the endurance of any hardship, no matter how terrible. The liberation of humanity justifies the ultimate use of any means. The Death Guard's faith in inner strength, iron will and unshakeable resolution in the face of hardship has led to what some of their detractors believe to be is a culture of overweening pride, arrogance and an utter contempt for those they deem inferior. Cult of Personality The arrival of the Primarch Mortarion within the XIV Legion in the later days of the Great Crusade seemed to augment and amplify characteristics that had always been present in the Dusk Raiders to new and unseen extremes, while other aspects of the Legion's established nature fell away like a shed skin. Mortarion possessed a razor-sharp intelligence and flare for organisational simplicity and efficiency. These factors, coupled with the ability to inspire a fanatical loyalty in those of Barbarus blood who viewed him as no less than a near-divine saviour, engendered a fanatical loyalty to its Primarch rarely seen in other Legions. Number Seven When Mortarion reorganised the XIV Legion's organisational structures he reorganised them into seven Great Companies. The number seven and its derivations seemed to hold occult and ritual significance both to Mortarion and the Barbaran culture of his blighted world of adoption. Notionally each company was to hold some 70,000 Space Marines, meaning that the desired total strength of the Death Guard Legion was some 490,000 Astartes, although in reality nothing approaching this number was ever achieved. Attrition and bloodshed, as well as the constraints of time and Imperial resources, were to ensure that the XIV Legion never reached this number but the figure remained, if nothing else, a measure of Mortarion's ambition. Battle Damage In the Death Guard rank is everything, it is what separate the masters from their servants. But they find showing off your rank on uniform to be bragging so only what is needed for battlefield recognition is shown. Just as the Legionaries of the Death Guard care for badges of honour or other trinkets to commemorate deeds of valour. The closest the Space Marines of the Death Guard come to such decoration is respect for the marks of battle itself on their armour, be they from an enemy's blade or bullet, or the corrosive stains of a toxic environment none but the Death Guard could have endured. So long as the integrity of the armour plate itself is not compromised, such damage is left to adorn a Death Guard Legionary's armour as a statement that there is nothing they cannot endure, adding to the XIV Legion's increasingly sinister appearance and deepening reputation among their fellow Astartes during the Great Crusade. The Cups Often, a Battle-Brother of the Death Guard would be singled out by Mortarion, who would then offer the selected warrior the rare opportunity to share a celebratory drink with him. It was said that there was no toxin too strong, no poison so powerful and no contagion of such lethality that a Death Guard could not resist it. The Death Guard were known to harden themselves through stringent training regimens as Neophyte Astartes, willingly exposing themselves to chemical agents, contaminants, deadly viral strains and venoms of a thousand different shades. They could resist them all. From a set of bowls was mixed and poured dark liquids into a pair of ornate goblets. The senses of the chosen Astartes often rebelled against the odour of the toxins, their implanted Neuroglottis and Preomnor organs rebelling at the mere smell of the poisonous brew; but to refuse the cup would be seen as weakness. The poured distillate often contained a potent mixture of agent magenta nerve bane, some variety of sword beetle venom, and other, less identifiable compounds. The cups were Mortarion's, and in each battle where the Death Lord took to the field in person, he would select a warrior in the aftermath and share with that man a draught of poison. They would drink and they would live, cementing the unbreakable strength of the Legion they embodied. Mortarion understood that many within the Legion frowned upon such traditions as The Cups, but the Primarch knew that honours and citations were sometimes necessary. Warriors needed to know that they are valued. Praise from one's peers must be given when the moment was right. Without it, even the most steadfast man would eventually feel unvalued. Legion Recruitment Attrition rates within the Death Guard Legion on active service are frighteningly high despite their legendary resilience. Indeed for many years of the Great Crusade only the World Eaters and Iron Warriors Legions were on occasion recorded to have spent more lives proportionately to their strength in pursuit of the Imperium's conquest. Barbarus itself, in a short span of years, became little more than a factory to produce new recruits for the Death Guard Legion, and intake from other sources of recruitment to which the Legion had title dwindled to a mere handful, unless the pressure of fatalities in the field proved too great. Mortarion's resistance to the use of bloodstock other than that of Barbarus wavered only because of the need to keep his Legion's strength battleworthy according to his own high standards. Recruitment solely from Barbarus was, however, aided by the high suitability of the planet's feral population for the Astartes conversion process, and remains so, to this day. Legion Organisation Before they were reunited with their Primarch, the Dusk Raiders conformed very closely to the standard raiment of arms and organisational patterns laid out in the ''Principia Belicosa'' for the early Space Marine Legions by the Imperial Officio Militaris. At its most fundamental level the Dusk Raiders Legion was organised around the principle of equipping its individual Space Marines as well as possible, so that they could endure and prevail against any foe encountered and operate for extended periods without resupply or support if necessary. This dogma was the cornerstone of the XIV Legion's way of war, and was built upon the foundations of independence and surety with which the Dusk Raiders had always fought. The Dusk Raiders are noted in the Imperial records of this period as maintaining a well-rounded capacity for unleashing multiple modes of warfare, although with some bias towards heavy assault formations and attritional engagements, as evidenced by the particular use of close-ranged weaponry within the Legion. The Dusk Raiders Legion relied upon its infantry to provide its strategic strength, with the bulk of tactical fire support coming from heavily armed support squads, and later with considerable numbers of Terminators and Dreadnoughts providing reinforcement and an assault spearhead where needed. Once Mortarion became the master of the XIV Legion the Death Guard changed dramatically, including its arts of warfare. Mortarion was at his heart an infantryman, and in his Death Guard he saw the chance to perfect the principle of the utilitarian warrior on foot who could go anywhere, fight on any ground and destroy any enemy through resilience, resolve and implacable aggression. As part of this doctrine, the Death Guard's squad formations were largely not static as in most Space Marine Legions of the time, but were formed, reformed and ordered as needed and as the given tactical situation required. To this end, a Death Guard Legionary was trained to be equally adept at any infantry role he might be called upon to perform on the battlefield rather than fighting at all times in a particular specialised role. In this way, a Death Guard Astartes would act as a Tactical Marine in one battle, a heavy weapons fire support specialist in another and so on, with only Techmarines and other highly specialised occupations remaining wholly dedicated to a single tactical role. The Death Guard was organised around the principles established by the Dusk Raiders and built upon the ways they had always fought. Bolter, melta and flamer became the Death Guard's trinity of weapons around which their wargear was based, keeping supply needs to a minimum. Other types of ranged weapons are deployed sparingly only as the tactical situation or nature of the enemy demands. Each Death Guard also carries a close combat blade as well, which includes broad trench daggers, warscythes and the heavy slashing Kukra native to Barbarus. Forged of dense black ceramsteel, these brutal and efficient weapons soon became the hallmark of the Legionaries of the XIV Legion. This reliance on simple but effective tools of war is an outward manifestation of the cardinal belief held by the Legion that the Space Marine himself is the greatest of all weapons at the Imperium's disposal, a tireless engine of war before which any enemy will eventually succumb. The Death Guard, since the time of the Great Crusade, continues to rely almost exclusively on its infantry to provide its strategic strength, with the bulk of tactical support firepower coming from heavily armed support squads, and later from the Legion's considerable numbers of Terminators and Dreadnoughts, which provides reinforcement and assault spearheads where needed. This focus on heavy infantry formations is also one of the reasons the Death Guard Legion developed a particularly admirable record in fighting to clear Space Hulks of alien infestation and for their ability to destroy fortifications and citadels from within. While the Death Guard does utilise field armour, support vehicles and transports (as Mortarion would not allow his forces to be circumvented, cut-off or left wanting for their lack), these are not given any primacy in the Legion's tactical doctrine. The only exception to this are dedicated siege units such as the Vindicator which is fielded in disproportionately high numbers by the Legion, alongside squadrons of Fellblade super-heavy tanks and Land Raider Spartans in mass warfare. It is notable in hindsight, and would prove to be a telling factor on Istvaan III, that a proportionately high number of the Death Guard Legion's war machine crews were still of Terran blood by the time of the Horus Heresy, while the heaviest infantry strike units, particularly the Legion's sizable core of Terminator Armour-equipped shock troops, were of Barbarus stock. Unlike some of the Space Marine Legions whose operations were often diffused across separate commands, task forces and campaigns spread across the galaxy during the Great Crusade, the Death Guard were accustomed to fight as a single, united force. As such, when the XIV Legion came to the Istvaan System at the start of the Heresy with almost its entire strength, the most accurate accounts of the time claim that the Death Guard maintained approximately 95,000 Space Marines, 70 capital ships and perhaps three times that number of smaller Escort and assault craft. With the conclusion of the bitter fighting on Isstvan V, it is estimated Mortarion's Legion had been reduced by well over 55,000 casualties, counting both the Death Guard's stubborn defence, betrayed to their deaths in the ashen wastes of Isstvan V, and in lives spent by Mortarion's sons in their futile efforts to rescue their brothers on the surface, during the massive void battle in orbit above. It is believed that during the protracted fighting that was to occur during the Drop Site Massacre engagement suited the Death Guard Legion well, with its strong emphasis and preference on attritional warfare and close order infantry tactics. It is believed that during the fighting, the final nucleonic bombardment exacted a heavy toll on the Death Guard's armoured divisions. Legion Command Hierarchy When the newfound Primarch Mortarion was given command of the XIV Legion, he remade it as a single instrument of his will. Of all the Space Marine Legions, it is said of the Death Guard that they are but one entity with a single purpose and one body. The XIV Legion was re-ordered into seven "Great Companies" of considerably larger size than the standard Legion organisational structures of the Great Crusade era mandated. Obedience and order in the ranks of the Death Guard is absolute and an unbroken chain-of-command runs like blood in the Legion's veins. Legionaries are extensions of their sergeant's will, sergeants their captain's, and captains their commander's, while collectively the Legionaries of the Death Guard are all instruments of Mortarion, body and soul. Few other ranks or divisions of formal organisation exists in the XIV Legion, except in very specialised, often technical roles. Each member of the Legion knows his place and the seniority and tasks of those around them without recourse to excessive heraldry and symbol. While many Legions have the tradition of giving the honorific of "First Captain" to the commanding officer of the elite 1st Great Company, the Death Guard also holds two more privileged titles to be bestowed upon the commanders of the 2nd and 7th Great Companies, respectively. Thus, although they held no actual seniority over one another, the Captain of the 2nd Great Company can carry the rank of "Commander" if he so wishes, just as the Captain of the 7th Great Company is known as the "Battle-Captain". All Death Guard Legionaries conform to Mortarion's decree without rancour or dissent, and rivalries and internal strife are observed by outsiders to be few, particularly in comparison to more notably fractious Legions such as the Space Wolves. When an officer dies in battle, his successor steps into his place swiftly and decisively without need for orders or discussion, and so the Legion's chain-of-command is seamless even in the face of the heaviest losses, contributing to the Death Guard's reputation for endurance in war. Specialised Ranks & Formations *'Deathshroud' - The Deathshroud is an elite cadre of specially selected Battle-Brothers from the XIV Legion who serve as Primarch Mortarion's mute bodyguards. Great secrecy surrounds this elite cadre, whose numbers are chosen from amongst the standard ranks of the Death Guard Legion from Legionaries who have been singled out and personally selected by their Primarch for their bravery and valour. Once chosen, the selected Battle-Brother will give up his former life as a common rank-and-file Legionary and swear binding oaths of secrecy. A member of the Deathshroud will then be listed as killed in action to allay any suspicions as to their true identity, and he will forever conceal his face by always wearing an enclosed helmet, mask or hood. The identity of each member of the Deathshroud is known only to Mortarion himself, even in the event of their death. The Deathshroud wear artificer-crafted terminator armour of the highest quality, presenting a foreboding appearance with their barrel-chested appearance and like their Primarch, wielding large scythes called Manreapers. It is the Deathshroud's sacred duty to never stray more than forty-nine paces from Mortarion, with two Deathshroud warriors customarily escorting the Primarch at any given time, though there might be more hidden in the shadows. These stoic warriors' presence is quite intimidating, as they stand uniformly at attention at all times, as still as statues. But in battle the Deathshroud prove equally frightening, for whatever the odds, they always move inexorably towards their target, almost as if they are automated killing machines. *'Grave Warden Terminator Squads' - Originally used as an informal name for the variously armed battalions of Death Guard Terminators of Calas Typhon's company carried into battle aboard the unique Battleship Terminus Est, the term "Grave Wardens" also eventually became synonymous both within the Death Guard Legion and beyond it, specifically for the alchemical weapon-equipped Terminators unique to the Death Guard. Alone among the Legiones Astartes, the Death Guard makes free and frequent use of alchemical weapons such as the crawling horror of Phosphex, inimically lethal Cullgene gas and flesh-eating Vasgotox fluid as a matter of course, and outfitted specialised units in modified patterns of Tactical Dreadnought Armour to disperse it accordingly. Where the Grave Warden Terminator Squads walk, they bring lingering, ugly death to whatever and whoever crosses their paths. *'Legion Destroyer Squads' - Considered dishonourable by some of the Space Marine Legions who made little use of them or eschewed them altogether, Destroyers are equipped with and expert in the use of otherwise proscribed and forbidden weaponry. Alongside certain factions of the Mechanicum, only Destroyer cadres have the license to use these weapons in the forces of the Imperium by the Emperor's command. Rad-weapons, bio-alchem munitions and the burning horror of Phosphex are a necessary evil, although the effectiveness of their relic-weapons in cracking especially difficult enemy defences cannot be denied. Legion Combat Doctrine When the XIV Legion was still known as the Dusk Raiders, its Astartes signature strategy had been to attack their foes at nightfall, thus earning them their Legion moniker. The Dusk Raiders' Power Armour was an unpainted slate grey in colour while their right arm and one or both shoulder plates were painted crimson. This was done with the intent to symbolically show their enemies what they truly were - the Emperor's red right hand, relentless and unstoppable. Many enemies would throw down their weapons the moment the sun dipped beneath the horizon rather than dare to fight them. With the coming of Mortarion, the Legion's combat doctrines changed as the Death Guard became a single instrument of his will. The Death Guard came to believe that victory came through sheer relentlessness. Their weapons, while not ornate, functioned without flaw. They did not manoeuvre in fanciful patterns to confuse the enemy, instead they stood their ground and waited for the enemy assaults to falter before striking back with fatal force. Any environment or situation Mortarion and his advisors could not compensate for, the Death Guard would overcome through sheer stubborn resilience and painful endurance. Mortarion had learned the art of warfare on a world almost covered in mountainous terrain, and even though his innate intellect allowed him to grasp the proper use of tanks and armoured vehicles, the primacy of the foot soldier remained the Death Guard's trademark. Each Space Marine was well-trained in a variety of infantry disciplines, and was able to function in almost any role or environment. The Death Guard are arguably the most remorseless and among the most feared of the Space Marine Legions. This is not simply because of their power in battle or force of arms, but also because there seems to be no loss they will not accept to ensure eventual victory and no hell they would not endure to reach their foe. Although specialising in entrenched and attritional warfare, the Legion also has a number of formations and tactics that enables it to operate in concentrated and crushing force in an attack -- one such was dubbed "The Reaping" by those who had fought alongside the Death Guard during the Great Crusade. A heavily reinforced column of attack particularly suited to urban warfare and shattered landscapes, the Reaping is deliberately slow-moving and utterly murderous in its methodical assault pattern and, like the reaper's scythe, little escapes it. Fearful Weapons It is of note that the Death Guard under Mortarion quickly became associated with the use of alchemical and radiation weaponry to a greater extent than any other Legion, further darkening their reputation with the Battle-Brothers of the other Legiones Astartes. Simply put, the use of toxic gas, burning Phosphex and contaminated rad-shells did not rankle their Legion's honour as it did for some, while Mortarion himself was a master in the use of such weapons of mass destruction and a student of the most horrific arts of war, and had no compunction in their use against any foe that threatened humanity. The Death Guard Legionaries' inherent resilience to toxins and poisons enables them to be deployed to warzones afflicted by the most hellish and lethal conditions, be they atomic, biological or chemical in nature, in which they will then excel. The Great Crusade was, after all, launched to conquer worlds and not destroy them, unless there was no alternative, but in such warzones, already hopelessly contaminated and unsuited for human life, the usual caveats and protocols restricting the use of contaminate weapons by the Emperor's command did not often apply. Legion Gene-Seed The Legionaries of the Death Guard always reflect the gaunt, shadow-eyes, quality of their Primarch, that gave the lie to the hardness with which they were made. The original Terran-stock displayed a stoic temperament and gene-crafted aptitude, reminiscent of their genetic inheritance from the Ironside warriors of Old Albia. With the introduction of the feral stock of pale, gaunt people of Barbarus, the Death Guard Legion's gene-seed seemed to amplify the uncommonly resistance to contagion and toxins in its Barbarus candidates to unheard of levels. Legion Warcry Before their reunification with their Primarch, the Legionaries of the XIV Legion would shout, "For Terra and Mortarion!" When they enter the fray, the 7th Great Company in particular used the cry, "Count the Seven!" Notable Death Guard *'Mortarion' - Also known as the Pale King or the Death Lord, he is the lord of the Death Guard Legion. *'Calas Typhon' - The First Captain and Equerry of Primarch Mortarion during the Great Crusade and Dornian Heresy eras. Also a powerful psyker. *'Commander Ignatius Grulgor' - Captain of the 2nd Great Company during the Great Crusade, he was posted on the Eisenstein, where he was killed by the Nurgle-corrupted Battle-Captain Garro. *'Ullis Temeter' - Temeter was the Captain of the 4th Great Company of the XIV Legion. He met his ultimate fate on the surface of Isstvan V. *'Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro' - Nathaniel Garro was the Battle-Captain of the Death Guard's 7th Great Company during the Great Crusade. During the revolt deep in the Warp, he became the first Legionary of the Death Guard to turn to the service of Chaos in his desire for power and thereby ensuring the loss of the Frigate Eisenstein. *'Marshal Durak Rask' - Durak Rask was a fanatical follower of his Primarch, viewing Mortarion as a preternatural saviour from his early youth on the benighted world of Barbarus. Accepted into training for the Death Guard Legion, Rask was marked from an early age for his innate intelligence and fervour. He quickly proved to be a dour and driven warrior with an uncommon flair for siegecraft. He soon rose over his decades of service to become the Legion's Marshal of Ordnance, and proved his mettle in many battles and campaigns. *'Solun Decius' - Decius was a member of the 7th Great Company commanded by Battle Captain Nathaniel Garro, and the youngest member of Captain Garro's command squad. He met his fate aboard the Eisenstein, when fighting broke out between Chaos-corrupted Death Guard and those that remained loyal. *'Meric Voyen' - Meric Voyen was the company Apothecary of the 7th Great Company commanded by Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro. *'Crysos Morturg' - *'Forge Tyrant Erud Vahn' - Erud Vahn had once been counted amongst the foremost Forge-Tyrants of the Death Guard. Acknowledged grudgingly by the grim master of his Legion, Mortarion, as a master of the esoteric disciplines of alkemic warfare, Vahn had spent long years in study with the tech-adepts of Mars. With the outbreak of the Dornian Heresy, Vahn found his loyalty to Fabricator-General Zagreus Kane and his traitorous Dark Mechanicum faction outweighed that to his distant Primarch and declared for the Traitor cause. *'Ancient Lhorgath' - Ancient Lhorgath was once the commander of the 14th Chapter, 2nd Great Company of the Death Guard Legion, a rank he reluctantly set aside upon being mortally wounded battling the Fane-Kings of Narbasi during an Imperial Compliance action. At the Isstvan V Dropsite Massacre, Ancient Lhorgath led his Dreadnought Talon in a fearsome counter-charge into the midst of the Raven Guard Traitor Legion in the battle's bloody final hour; it is claimed Lhorgath was struck down by Corax himself in the desperate fighting. Lhorgath's Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought chassis was an exemplar of the prototypes of the type delivered to the Death Guard Legion's armouries which were subjected to numerous repairs and modifications by the Legion's Artificers. *'Ancient Skorrvall "Bitterblood"' - Skorrvall was the commander of the Death Guard's 7th Dreadnought Talon. Skorrvall was a native of Barbarus from that world's intake into the Death Guard Legion and was known as a darkly-tempered warrior and a survivor against the odds. Rising to the honoured rank of Standard Bearer of the 19th Chapter of the Death Guard's 1st Great Company, he was mortally wounded in battle with the Eldar at Neverlight and interred in a Dreadnought frame. Fighting with the Loyalists in Mortarion's Vanguard at Isstvan V, he was badly damaged by cannon-fire but survived to later take part in several notable campaigns of the Dornian Heresy. Legion Appearance Legion Colours As the Dusk Raiders, the XIV Legion's armour was an unpainted storm grey. The entire right vambrace, gauntlet and shoulder plate (sometimes both) were painted the deep crimson of drying blood, which signified the XIV Legion's status as the "red right hand" of the Emperor's justice. After their Primarch Mortarion took command of the XIV Legion, the newly redubbed Death Guard began wearing ivory-grey unpainted ceramite, save for a few murky-jade coloured markings. Tactical Markings and Heraldry *'Death Guard Helm Variations' - The use of vertical helmet stripes to denote seniority is believed to have originated with the Legion's re-organisation as the Death Guard, and became common as a mark of veterancy and tactical command. *'Death Guard Legion Armour' - Battle damage that did not compromise a Legionary's Power Armour systems was retained as a mark of honour by Death Guard Astartes. Legion Badge As the Dusk Raiders, the XIV Legion's badge was a black skull halved, with a setting black sun on the other side, centred on a field of deep crimson. This icon symbolised the XIV Legion's original given epithet of the Dusk Raiders, a consequence of their use of the ancient tactic of conducting major ground attacks at the fall of night. Once the Dusk Raiders were unleashed upon their foes, nothing would stay the Legion's hand. After the Legion was reunited with its Primarch Mortarion the newly renamed Death Guard's badge was changed to that of a green skull within a dark green sunburst icon. Legion Fleet *''Endurance'' (Gloriana-class Battleship) - The flagship of the XIV Legion and the Primarch Mortarion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. *''Indomitable Will'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Lord of Hyrus'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Moritatis Oculis'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Spectre of Death'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Stalwart'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Tenacious'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) - The Tenacious was a heavy line-breaker that was lost in the first years of the Dornian Heresy. Renamed as the Umaal, the vessel would nevertheless continue to fight under the colours of the Chaos-corrupted White Scars Traitor Legion. *''Terminus Est'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Undying'' (Capital Ship, Unknown Class) *''Reaper's Shroud'' (Vengeance-class Grand Cruiser) *''Reaper's Scythe'' (Battle Barge) - The Reaper's Scythe was a Battle Barge of Mortarion during the Great Crusade. *''Dread'' (Battle Barge) *''Fourth Horseman'' (Battle Barge) *''Stalwart'' (Battle Barge) *''Mia Donna Mori'' (Battleship) - During the Great Crusade and the Dornian Heresy this monstrous Battleship was a notable engine of destruction and carried enough Exterminatus-class alchem and bio-kill weaponry within her armoured vaults to end life in an entire sector if unleashed. *''Pitted Iron'' (Battleship) - *''Barbarus' Sting'' (Strike Cruiser) *''Implacable'' (Cruiser, Unknown Class) *''Necrotor'' (Gladius-class Light Cruiser) *''Eisenstein'' (Frigate) *''Valley of Haloes'' (Supply Hauler) Legion Relics Gallery Category:D Category:First Founding Category:Imperium Category:Loyalists Category:Space Marine Legions